Houses of nobility / Noble Houses / "Great Houses"

A noble family is considered a Noble House if it has held some office of authority within a city for more than three generations; it is a Great House if it has done so across more than three cities for that same span.

Relationships

Many noble Houses over the centuries have found that close ties with a Guild can help offset the nobility's constant hunger for currency to finance their operations, and so often marry second or third sons or daughters into a Guild. This doesn't always guarantee that Guilds will finance House operations, or that Guilds will be able to influence court activities, but it does guarantee that the Great Game takes on vastly new dimensions across Houses and Guilds.

Similarly, Houses have found that sponsoring (complete with dedication of a son or daughter into) a religious order, such as the Kaevarian or Al'Uman Church, can also create ties of influence and power.

Given the frequency with which the Houses employ Mercenary Guilds as part of their military operations, it is also common to see the nobly-born enlist--and often rise to rank within--a mercenary company. Periodically, a House that wishes to shore up the claim or reputation of its firstborn will enlist that individual (at either a staff or command rank, to avoid actual comabt) in a mercenary company, but only after careful consideration, since the death of a firstborn can throw even the most placid House into violent disarray.

As a general rule, it is said that "firstborn rule; secondborn preach; thirdborn fight or trade".

List of Houses

• Cademintal
• Ciallin
• Elhol
• Haskinar
• Jarmaath
• Kaal
• Nerris
• Teskerwill
• Ulverth

Notes

• Should probably create a "coat of arms" generator. Use this as a seed:

  1 Three lit candles on a purple field 2 Sea serpent coiled around a trident on a blue field 3 Hunting horn banded in gold on a gray field 4 Raised fist grasping an anchor on a quartered field of blue and white 5 Turtle with crenelated tower on its shell on a white field 6 Dragon skull supported on either side by dragon wings on a red field 7 Yellow chicken foot on a black field 8 Lightning bolt splitting a galley in two on a blue field 9 Two crouching displacer beasts facing each other on a yellow field 10 Knotted brambles on a green field 11 Red owlbear with a silver crown on a checkered field of black and white 12 Black anvil cracked down the middle on an orange field

  {Number} {noun} {modifier} on a {color} field Number: A, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Nine Noun: Candles, Sea serpent, Hunting horn, Raised fist, Turtle